May Day

“ These little people were all in their cleanest white frocks and prettiest hats: they clung to each other and to their garlands and staves of flowers until the tangled mob reminded one of a May-Day fete. Not that any English May Day of my acquaintance could produce such a lavish profusion of roses and buds and blossoms of every [pg 622] hue and tint, to say nothing of such a sun and sky. ”

“ The May-pole is almost gone out of fashion among us: but May-day, besides its flowering hawthorns and its pearly dews, has still its boasted exhibition of painted chimney-sweepers and their Jack-o’-the-Green, whose tawdry finery, bedizened faces, unwonted gestures, and short-lived pleasures call forth good-humoured smiles and looks of sympathy in the spectators. ”

“ To say the truth, they last longer with us than with the children, and perhaps we combine the delicate hues of spring, and lighten our nosegays by grass and sword-flags and rushes with more cunning fingers than those of the little ones who gathered them.
For these is reserved the real bloom of May-day! And the orthodox customs are so various, that families of any size or age may pick and choose. One brother and sister can be Lord and Lady of the May. One sister among many brothers must be May Queen without opposition. ”

“ The principal characteristics of May-day celebrations and festivities are of rejoicing that the reign of winter is at an end, and that of early summer with its floral beauties, has come. The hawthorn furnishes its white blossoms in profusion; and the tall May-poles, gaily decorated with garlands of leaves and flowers, and festoons of ribbons of the brightest colours, are centres of attraction on the village green, for the youth of both sexes to dance the May-pole dance, hand-in-hand, in a ring. ”

“ A pensive shade has fallen across May-day; and while the sun is behind those castellated clouds, our imagination is willing to retire into the saddest places of memory, and gather together stories and tales of tears. And many such there are, annually sprinkled all round the humble huts of our imaginative and religious land, even like the wildflowers that, in endless succession, disappearing and reappearing in their beauty, Spring drops down upon every brae. ”

“ The celebration of the May-day, with its ceremonies, the May-pole, its May-queen, etc., is a survival of the primeval thanksgiving with which afflicted mankind welcomed the return of the sun from his long sleep of death. ”

“ There is sense in our First o' May, chummy, hope from our First o' May.
The Governments are a-gog, brother, Figaro owns as much;
Property quakes when the countless hands of Labour are in touch.
And from Bermondsey to Budapest they are in touch to-day,
Linked for the Feast of May, brother, linked for the Feast of May!
So we must wake and turn out early, bright and early, comrade, dear;
To-morrow'll be the grandest day of all the green New Year;
To-morrow'll be of all the year the maddest merriest day,
For Toil's to be Queen o' the May, brother. Labour is Queen o' th's May! ”

“ There have been more attempts to revive the celebration of May-day, from its supposed congeniality to the spirit of youth, than that of any other festivity, but all in vain. The times, and the spirit of the times, are changed. ”

“ This third stage has its May-day, when the things which have become hackneyed to our minds from long use come to them with the full force of revelations, and they astonish us by their exuberant delight. But they have a right to their May-day and it ought not to be cut short; the sun will go down of itself, and then June will come in its own time and ripen the green wood, and after that will come pruning time, in another season, and then the phase of severity and fastidiousness, and after that—if they continue to write—they will be truly themselves. ”

“ Other months are cold and gray, Some are bright, but what are they? Earth may take the whole eleven-- Hopeful May--happy May! Thine the borrowed month of heaven Cometh thence and points the way. Wingèd minstrels come and play Through the woods their roundelay; Who can tell but only thou, Spirit-ear'd, inspirèd May, On the bud-embow'rèd bough What the happy lyrists say? Is the burden of their lay Love's desire, or Love's decay? Are there not some fond regrets Mix'd with these, divinest May, For the sun that never sets Down the everlasting day? ”

“ Now that thou art come again, We perchance may make thee stay. Welcome, May! welcome, May! Everything kept holiday Save the human heart alone. Mirthful May! gladsome May! We had cares and thou hadst none When thou camest last this way! When thou camest last this way Blossoms bloomed on every spray, Buds on barren boughs were born-- Fertile May! fruitful May! Like the rose upon the thorn Cannot grief awhile be gay? 'Tis not for the golden ray, Or the flowers that strew thy way, O immortal One! thou art Here to-day, gentle May-- 'Tis to man's ungrateful heart That thy fairy footsteps stray. ”

“ MIGHT I return to that May-day of gladness
⁠When life is young, and all its promise fair;
Might I efface each memory of sadness,
⁠And put away the weary load of care,—
To pluck the rose that in Time's Eden blows,
⁠I would not go, were I to miss you there! ”

“ May-day is one of the most general holydays in England. High poles, as tall as the mast of a merchant ship, are erected in every village, and hung with garlands 147composed of all field flowers, but chiefly of one which is called the cowslip: each has its King and Queen of the May chosen from among the children of the peasantry, who are tricked out as fantastically as the London chimney-sweepers; but health and cleanliness give them a very different appearance. ”

“ It was celebrated as a national festival, an universal expression of joy and adoration, at the commencement of a season, when nature developes her beauties, dispenses her bounties, and wafts her “spicy gales,” rich with voluptuous fragrance, to exhilarate man, and enliven the scenes around him.
In no place where the custom of celebrating May-day still continues does it present so close a resemblance to its Roman origin as at Lynn. ”

“ Fair is the night, and fair the day, Now April is forgot of May, Now into June May falls away: Fair day! fair night! O give me back The tide that all fair things did lack Except my Love, except my Sweet! Blow back, O wind! thou art not kind, Though thou art sweet: thou hast no mind Her hair about my Sweet to bind. O flowery sward! though thou art bright, I praise thee not for thy delight,— Thou hast not kissed her silver feet. Thou know'st her not, O rustling tree! ”

“ Stir not a clout, Till May be out, would seem to prove that in ancient times, as well as at present, May was by no means so genial a month, as it has pleased certain personages to represent it. Nevertheless, we know that every now and then in May, comes in a warm and summer-like day, bright, and soft, and beautiful, full of a tempered sunshine, appearing after the cold days of winter, like joy succeeding sorrow, and entendered by the memories of the past, such was the sort of day upon which the traveller we have spoken of rode on upon his way through a very fair and smiling country. ”

“ O Rosebud garland of girls! If the whole glad year were May; If winds sang low in the clustering leaves, And roses bloomed alway; If youth were all that there is of life; If the years brought nothing of care or strife, Nor ever a cloud to the ether blue, It were easy to sing a song for you!
Yet, O my garland of girls! Is there nothing better than May? The golden glow of the harvest time! The rest of the Autumn day! This thought I give to you all to keep: Who soweth good seed shall surely reap; The year grows rich as it groweth old, And life’s latest sands are its sands of gold! ”

“ The 15th of May dawned bright and beautiful; not a cloud flecked the sky all the livelong day. We gathered the violets so blue and the leaves so green of Shady Cliff and the Retreat, talking busily of other May-days, and thinking of the loved ones at home who were keeping my May-day in the old familiar places.
Then back to Lincoln carrying bright trophies of our Maying at Milford, and just at the close of day, when evening breathes her benediction, friends gathered round while two voices repeated: "With this ring I thee wed. ”

“ As I have sate in some flowery dale, with the sweetness of May around me, on a week-day, I have thought of all the millions of immortal creatures toiling for their daily life in factories and shops, amid the whirl of machinery and the greedy cravings of mercantile gain, and suddenly this golden interval of time has lain before me in all its brightness,—a time, and a perpetually recurring time, in which the iron grasp of earthly tyranny is loosed, and Peace, Faith, and Freedom, the angels of God, come down and walk once more amongst men! ”

“ The grace of God that brings no ruth For them who find the spring. There is a land, there is a May Beyond the graveyard tree; Ten thousand years are like a day Of a youth that we shall see: Our young hearts pass the graveyard tree To a land forever in May. ”

“ And snows hide all the wealth of May.
How can we stay much longer here?
Each day the sun becomes more pale,
The dim horizon more austere,
And earth more dreary in her mail.
God gave us wings and made us free ”

“ We do not celebrate the first day of May to any extent in this country, but in England, where the season is much earlier than ours, and the earth is already covered with wild flowers, May-day is more fitly celebrated; but even in England the old customs have sadly fallen away.
Once upon a time every village had its annual setting up of the May-pole, which was consecrated to the Goddess of Flowers, and early on May morning the young people went out to "gather the May." ”

“ At the ritual of May Day not only was the fresh green bough or tree carried into the village, but with it came a girl or a boy, the Queen or King of the May. Sometimes the tree itself, as in Russia, is dressed up in woman’s clothes; more often a real man or maid, covered with flowers and greenery, walks with the tree or carries the bough. ”

“ THE SEXTON OF ST. HUBERT'S. A STORY OF OLD ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. THE QUEEN OF THE MAY.
In a remote region in the northern part of England, the people still cherish an attachment to old usages and sports, and hold the observance of Christmas, May-day, and other time-honored festivals, a sacred obligation. One village, in particular, is famous for its May-day sports, which, as the curate is a little withered antiquary, are conducted with great ceremony and fidelity to old authorities. ”

“ May Day Festivities—May-pole—Morris-dancers—The Book of Sports—Bowling—Beating the Bounds—George Herbert's description of a Country Parson.
HE spring has dawned with all its brightness and beauty; the nightingale's song is heard, and all nature seems to rejoice in the sweet spring-time. Our forefathers delighted, too, in the advent of the bright month of May, [pg 045] which the old poets used to compare to a maiden clothed in sunshine dancing to the music of birds and brooks; and May Day was the great rural festival of the year. ”

“ The plants as they spring from the earth seem to smile,
The fresh growing leaves of the groves now surround us,
And soft sounds of Spring-time unite to beguile.
The earth is now teeming with bright vegetation,
The early spring flowers are now in their bloom,
And where'er we look there appears animation
Just bursting the cells of the last winter's tomb.
The soft breeze of May-day, we welcome it near us,
As filled with rich fragrance it comes thro' the trees,
And the bright feathered songsters apparently fear us
No more than the odors that float on the breeze. ”

“ The verdant bank with silver blossoms strews;
The smiling season decks each flowery glade.
Be gay: too soon the flowers of spring will fade!
What gales of fragrance scent the vernal air!
Hills, dales, and woods their loveliest mantles wear,
Who knows what cares await that fatal day,
When ruder guests shall banish gentle May?
E’en death, perhaps, our valleys will invade.
Be gay: too soon the flowers of spring will fade!
The tulip now its varied hue displays,
And sheds, like Ahmed’s eye, celestial rays.
Ah! nature, ever faithful, ever true,
The joys of youth, while May invites, pursue! ”

“ As we went along under the hedgerows towards the pasture-fields, we thought of all the people we knew who were keeping May anywhere. They are not many now; but there are a few old-fashioned places in England in which there are still traces of old Roman observances: and the flowery festival of Mayday is one of these. Hoops and triangles are covered with flowers which must be still in the dew; and when they are hung up in public they make the day one long game at ball, every boy, and almost every passenger, trying to throw a ball over the garland, and catch it on the other side. ”

“ On the evening of May-day, and the following evenings, they go round to every house where they left a bough, and sing the May Song. One is dressed with a shirt over his other clothes, and decorated with ribbons, and is called the May Lord, another in girls’ clothes, is called the May Lady, or Mary. One has a handkerchief on a pole or stick as a flag, whose business is to keep off the crowd. The rest have ribbons in their hats. The money collected is spent in a feast of plum cake, bread and cheese, and tea. ”

“ E make bold to say that nowhere is May-Day kept with such real zeal, earnestness, and splendour, as at the quaint old Cheshire town of Knutsford. Though, owing to the extreme changeableness of our climate, the first of May is by no means a taste of the poet's "Gentle Spring," yet, never daunted, the plucky people have kept up this rural fête, despite all kinds of weather, with a resolution to be jolly worthy of Mark Tapley. Indeed, our usual English May-Day is but too often a shivering time, but fitfully cheered by occasional gleams of the sun. ”